Lich King (Icecrown Citadel tactics)
The Lich King is the final boss of Icecrown Citadel and the final major encounter of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. This boss is available since February 2, 2010 on US servers and February 3 on EU servers. The Lich King is easily the longest, most complicated and most difficult encounter in Icecrown Citadel. Tanks will have a lot on their hands with snap threat, tank switches, cooldown use and positioning. Healers will be dealing with massive, unpredictable damage spikes and considerable raid and tank damage. DPS will need to switch targets rapidly while still maintaining extremely high sustained damage. Everyone in the raid will need to react extremely quickly to many of the Lich King's abilities, often at the same time. This encounter is a fitting end to Wrath of the Lich King and features a level of difficulty not seen since Yogg-Saron in Ulduar. Abilities The Lich King melees for roughly 40,000 on an item level 264 geared tank on 25-player difficulty. Phase 1 * * * * * Phase 1.5 and 2.5 * * * * ** Phase 2 The Lich King retains Infest. * * * Phase 3 The Lich King retains Soul Reaper, Infest and Defile. * * * Spirit Warden * * Terenas Menethil * Strategy Phase 1 In the early stages of the fight, The Lich King can be tanked anywhere along the edge of the platform. Harmless ghouls and very dangerous Shambling Horrors will spawn. Horrors have a frontal cleave and an extremely dangerous tranquilizable enrage (they can also be stunned for its duration). You should not attack the Shambling Horrors or Ghouls directly and instead use the Lich King's Necrotic Plague ability to kill them. He will use Necrotic Plague on a random player which will kill them in 5 seconds if not dispelled. Note that Necrotic Plague jumps to the nearest UNIT on being dispelled. This INCLUDES Shambling Horrors and so you should just let the plague jump to them and kill them while you focus on the Lich King. If you have Horrors up going into the phase transition you should kill them just before phasing the Lich King. Ghouls can be left alive to die to incidental damage in the transition. He will also cast Infest which requires the raid's HP to be topped off quickly to remove the dot. Remorseless Winter - Phase 1.5 At 70% health, the Lich King will move to the center of the arena, away from the tank, and will cast Remorseless Winter. When he moves away from the tank, the raid must flee to the far side of the platform (opposite the Frozen Throne) and onto the platform extension that forms during the attack. Tanking the Lich King near the edge gives him a greater distance to travel before casting Remorseless Winter, giving the raid more time to react and a shorter distance to run. While on the platform extension, the Lich King will cast summon Raging Spirit on random players and after five seconds a Raging Spirit will spawn on top of them. These melee very hard and possess a frontal cone-area silence ability. One will spawn every 20 seconds including one spawning at the end of the transition for three total. These should be killed as quickly as possible to ensure only one is up in phase two. Frost orbs will head towards the raid and explode if they reach it. They have few HP and can be killed by ranged DPS. Pain and Suffering is a stacking DOT that will be applied to random raid members in this phase. It spreads to nearby players so you can't be too close to each other. When the Lich King kneels and lights up the ground around him, the raid must return to the main platform before the extension falls. Continue to kill any remaining Raging Spirits, but the tank should pick up the Lich King again as quickly as possible. Phase 2 Take the Lich King to the centre of the room. You will want the Val'kyr in this phase to have as far to fly as possible. He will begin to summon Val'kyr Shadowguards (450,000 health on 10 Man Normal). These Shadowguards can grab a single raid member, lifting them into the air dragging them over the edge of the platform followed by dropping them to their deaths. The Val'kyr, therefore, should be killed as fast as possible. Val'kyrs can be snared and stunned but not rooted. Defile and Val'kyrs will often line up and you will need to deal with both at the same time. The Lich King will periodically cast Defile, which produces a pool of darkness over an area of the arena. Defile is incredibly dangerous because it grows in both size and damage every time it ticks on a player, quickly covering the entire room and killing the raid. Soul Reaper is a monstrously damaging debuff applied on the Lich King's current tank every 30 seconds. It can be helpful to taunt off your current tank with another tank when Soul Reaper is applied, otherwise there is the possibility of the Lich King melee-ing at the same time the Soul Reaper dot ticks which will instantly kill your tank. Remorseless Winter - Phase 2.5 When the Lich King falls below 40%, he will cast Remorseless Winter again, forcing the raid onto a platform extension. This should be fought exactly like the first Remorseless Winter. Four Raging Spirits this time spawning every 15 seconds. When this attack ends, Phase 3 begins. Phase 3 The Lich King will begin expelling numerous Vile Spirits (66,000 health on 10 Man Normal) from Frostmourne, which will move toward the raid and explode. Their explosions cannot be avoided but you can kill them before they explode, then continue to burn down the Lich King's health. During Phase 3 he will still continue to periodically cast Defile, Infest and Soul Reaper but no longer summons Val'kyr Shadowguards. He will also cast Harvest Soul on random raid members every 70 seconds, doing 45,000 (25-man 90,000) damage over six seconds. If they survive they are sucked into Frostmourne and must fight their way out. You will likely need to use a damage reduction cooldown such as pain suppression on the target on 25-player difficulty. You have 15 minutes from the beginning of phase one to push him into phase four or he will enrage. His enrage gives him an enormous buff to his damage output, but he does not one-shot the raid when he enrages like some other major bosses; therefore it is still possible to push him into phase four (and thus defeat him) after he enrages. In fact, Blood Legion's world-first 10-man kill saw him enrage a few seconds before phase four began. Inside Frostmourne Healers can heal King Terenas' spirit while he kills the Spirit Warden within Frostmourne, while DPS classes must kill the Spirit Warden before it kills King Terenas. When the Spirit Warden dies you will escape Frostmourne. The Spirit Warden will channel an interruptable magic dispellable debuff called Soul Rip on King Terenas that does increasing damage every second for 8 seconds, to the point where Terenas will die at the end of the cast. The Spirit Warden also heals for 50% of damage it does meaning stunning it is very helpful. The Spirit Warden is vulnerable to all forms of CC and interrupts that affect Undead creatures. You will gain a debuff in Frostmourne called Harvest Soul that increases your damage by 100% and kills you after 60 seconds if you do not escape Frostmourne. Should you die inside Frostmourne you will heal the Lich King back to full health, assuredly wiping the raid. Phase 4 At 10% health, the Lich King will cast Fury of Frostmourne and kill all members of the raid. THIS IS INTENDED - this is not a wipe, so do not release! The Lich King and Tirion will have an exchange during which Tirion destroys Frostmourne using the Ashbringer. The ghost of Terenas Menethil II will appear and resurrect the raid while holding the Lich King in place. Players must use this opportunity to finish off the Lich King. Note: It is currently unknown whether there is a time limit to how long Terenas will hold the Lich King hostage. Quotes ;Intro : : : : :The Lich King freezes Highlord Tirion Fordring in a block of ice. : ;Aggro * ;Casting Remorseless Winter * ;Shattering arena * ;Summon Val'kyr * ;Casting Harvest Soul * ;Player escapes Frostmourne * ;Player is devoured by Frostmourne * ;Special * * * ;Killing a player * * ;Enrage * ;Outro :The Lich King casts Fury of Frostmourne, killing all players at once. : : :The Lich King begins to cast a resurrection spell. : :The Lich King laughs. : : :Light smites the ice block, freeing Tirion. :Tirion jumps and strikes Frostmourne with the Ashbringer, shattering it. : : :The souls trapped inside Frostmourne escape and swirl around the Lich King, lifting him in the air. :The ghost of Terenas Menethil II appears. : :Terenas' ghost begins to cast a resurrection spell. : :Terenas resurrects all players. :The raid moves in to finish the Lich King. : : :As the Lich King's HP reaches 0, the swirling maelstrom of souls stops and the Lich King falls to the ground, losing the Helm of Domination. :Arthas tries to reach for it but loses what little strength he has and collapses. Closing cinematic :Arthas lies supine, the shattered remnants of Frostmourne beside him. He starts as the ghost of Terenas Menethil materializes over him, and the characteristic blue glow dissipates from his eyes. As Terenas kneels next to him, Arthas places a hand on his father's chest. :Arthas Menethil: Father! Is it... over? :Terenas lays a comforting hand on Arthas' gauntlet. :Terenas Menethil II: At long last. No king rules forever, my son. :Arthas Menethil: I see... only darkness... before... me... :Arthas' eyes roll back into his head and he dies, his hand falling to the ground. Terenas closes his son's eyes and gently lays him on the ground as Tirion walks in. :Terenas Menethil II: Without its master's command, the restless Scourge will become an even greater threat to this world. :Terenas stands, facing Tirion. :Terenas Menethil II: Control must be maintained. There must always be a Lich King. :Terenas' ghost and the swirling souls disappear, and Tirion shields his eyes from the blinding light. With the freed souls of Frostmourne gone, Tirion picks up the Helm of Domination and examines it. :'Tirion Fordring:' The weight of such a burden... it must be mine. For there is no other-- :'Bolvar Fordragon:' Tirion! You hold a grim destiny in your hands, brother - but it is not your own. :''The scorched caricature of Bolvar is revealed, sitting atop the Frozen Throne. :Tirion Fordring: Bolvar! By all that is holy... :Bolvar Fordragon: The dragons' flame sealed my fate. The world of the living can no longer comfort me. Place the crown upon my head, Tirion. Forevermore, I will be the Jailer of the Damned. :Tirion Fordring: No, old friend. I cannot. :Bolvar Fordragon: Do it, Tirion! You and these brave heroes have your own destinies to fulfill. This last act of service... is mine. :Tirion Fordring: You will not be forgotten, brother. :Bolvar Fordragon: I must be forgotten, Tirion! If the world is to live free from the tyranny of fear, they must never know what was done here today. :Tirion nods and accedes to Bolvar's request, sliding the helm onto his head. The chamber begins to shake violently. There is a flash of light and Bolvar's eyes are glowing golden yellow through the eye slits of the helm. :Bolvar Fordragon: Tell them only that the Lich King is dead. :Bolvar's voice changes, acquiring the Lich King's characteristic echo. :Bolvar Fordragon/Lich King: And that Bolvar Fordragon died with him. :The Frozen Throne freezes over, encasing Bolvar in ice. :Bolvar Fordragon/Lich King: Now, go. Leave this place, and never return. Loot Normal mode Heroic mode Related Achievements Video 10 player Normal encounter tlxcNMltpU8 U_3eDWwDKfE 6s3GwMBk6Bg Ry0UyqRUCFU 25 player Normal encounter 9bnBtW42htA 3zFIGVwe0yE UEEMpR93N9E UBRk7N1mUbg G3J-mCcc24k Vd3dTXRorp0 Notes *The world first confirmed kill (on 10-man normal difficulty) was claimed by Blood Legion of Illidan US on February 3, 2010.http://bloodlegion.com/wow *The world first confirmed 25-man normal kill was claimed by Ensidia of Tarren Mill Europe on February 4, 2010. However, Blizzard claimed that they used an exploit that made the encounter easier. As a result, Blizzard issued a 72-hour ban to all of the members of the Ensidia raid, and removed the achievements and loot associated with the Lich King kill.Ensidiahttp://www.mmo-champion.com/raids-eu-first-kills/ensidia-just-got-banned/ *Paragon of Lightning's Blade Europe earned the unexploited world first 25-man normal kill on February 5.Paragon Trivia *Nearly all the items in the Lich King's loot table are weapons he stole and corrupted during his reign. Most of them were originally owned by characters Arthas defeated or killed, and many of the latter had their souls stolen by the runeblade Frostmourne.http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/riseandfall-interview.xml They represent the impressive arsenal which was unable to overcome Frostmourne's singular power, placing its strength above all other weapons, until it was shattered by the Ashbringer. Patch changes * * * * References External links Category:Icecrown Citadel mobs Category:Bosses